Ok DAT retake done FINALLY, IM FREE. First, let me tell you, make sure you get alot of sleep day before the DAT, I couldnt go asleep for some reason and only got 4 hours.
First DAT (May) TODAY'S RETAKE
PA 17 47.4% >>> 19 75.2% 🙂
QR 16 53.2% >>> 18 73.3% 🙂
RC 16 18.5% >>> 18 38.1%
BIO 23 98.0% >> 20 85.5% 👎
GC 24 90.1% >> 23 94.5% 😎
OC 24 95.2% >>> 27 98.2% 😉
TS 23 98.2% >>> 23 97.7% 😀
AA 20 87.1% >>> 21 91.0% 😀
As you can see I was stong with the sciences the first time, but bombed QR, RC, and PAT. I mostly took the retake to increase my RC score, even though many were suggesting to me to keep my first score bc I did great on sciences. Well, Im glad I put in extra 3 months to improve the other scores, it paid off.
Breakdown:
PAT- I sucked at PAT the first DAT. I had the CDP 5 test version, but still didnt do well. This time I upgraded to the 10 test version. The last three tests I was getting around 20-22. I am really good at almost all sections BUT the angle ranking. I only used to get 4 right on the CDP tests. But I got a bit better by just looking at the angles from a distance and choosing the largest and smallest angles quickly. DO NOT let your eyes get accomadated to the angles bc then they will all look the same. Real DAT's angles werent to bad, similar to CDP. Hole punching was easier, TFE similar, Keyhole easier, and Pattern folding was a bit harder.
QR- Didnt really change anything from last DAT. Went through Destroyer two times. Took all 10 crack dat math tests again, got around 20-22 in the last 3. Took all Achiever and Topscore tests, got around 20 in these. Last time my problem was I spent too much time on a hard problem and wasted like 5 mins on one problem (I KNOW, that was stupid). MAKE SURE YOU MOVE FAST. This time, if I couldnt solve a problem in like 30 secs, I marked it and moved on. This ensures that you get to all the easy problems, without wasting time.
RC- This is the reason I did the retake. First DAT, I was pianoed. This DAT, I had passages on epidimeology, spinal cord, and floating bridges. I read the all of the passages and then answered the questions. For practice, I read online news articles and did some Topscore and acheiver exams again. Again, time is crucial, read fast and move quickly.
BIO- This time I mainly used the same books as last time. Including Kaplan BB, Cliffs and Destroyer. Like everyone has already mentioned. The Cliffs is probably the best book for this section. If you know it and study it hard, you will do fine. Did have ecology and animal taxonomy questions, but none to specific. Cliffs, Kaplan and Destroyer should do the trick here. Little more difficult than last time (shows by my score). Maybe bc I only used Cliffs and didnt go through it enough.
GChem- This time I only used Kaplan BB, kaplan white book, Barrons, and Destoyer. Kaplan is a great book for an overall content review. Destroyer has almost all the possible diff calcs you can have on the DAT. Know all of Destroyer GChem. Actually, I do believe some questions were VERY similar to destroyer on real DAT. Also did achiever and Topscore, and learned the questions on there too.
OChem- DESTROYER, DESTROYER. The best source for this section. It has almost all the reactions and the road maps are great. Contains almost all the reactions you ever need to know. Only thing it lacks is some nomenclature and lab techniques. For that, I used Kaplan BB. Kaplan is great for nomenclature and good for lab techniques. I probably missed one question, and I know it was a NMR one.
I AM SELLING THE MATERIALS I USED FOR DAT, CHECK IT OUT AT http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=655448
Overall, Im happy that I retook it even though my BIO dropped. I wanted to increase my RC. My new RC isnt great, but Im sure schools will like the fact that I improved on all of my weak areas by putting more time into them. NO MORE RETAKES, SO HAPPY!!!🙂 Now, what do you guys think are my chancest. I have 400+ volunteering/shadowing. I dont know which GPA to give the one with +/- or without +/-. Which is more important and which do schools look at? My with +/- Overall is 3.58 and sGPA is 3.53. My without +/- overall is 3.55 and sGPA is 3.44.
First DAT (May) TODAY'S RETAKE
PA 17 47.4% >>> 19 75.2% 🙂
QR 16 53.2% >>> 18 73.3% 🙂
RC 16 18.5% >>> 18 38.1%
BIO 23 98.0% >> 20 85.5% 👎
GC 24 90.1% >> 23 94.5% 😎
OC 24 95.2% >>> 27 98.2% 😉
TS 23 98.2% >>> 23 97.7% 😀
AA 20 87.1% >>> 21 91.0% 😀
As you can see I was stong with the sciences the first time, but bombed QR, RC, and PAT. I mostly took the retake to increase my RC score, even though many were suggesting to me to keep my first score bc I did great on sciences. Well, Im glad I put in extra 3 months to improve the other scores, it paid off.
Breakdown:
PAT- I sucked at PAT the first DAT. I had the CDP 5 test version, but still didnt do well. This time I upgraded to the 10 test version. The last three tests I was getting around 20-22. I am really good at almost all sections BUT the angle ranking. I only used to get 4 right on the CDP tests. But I got a bit better by just looking at the angles from a distance and choosing the largest and smallest angles quickly. DO NOT let your eyes get accomadated to the angles bc then they will all look the same. Real DAT's angles werent to bad, similar to CDP. Hole punching was easier, TFE similar, Keyhole easier, and Pattern folding was a bit harder.
QR- Didnt really change anything from last DAT. Went through Destroyer two times. Took all 10 crack dat math tests again, got around 20-22 in the last 3. Took all Achiever and Topscore tests, got around 20 in these. Last time my problem was I spent too much time on a hard problem and wasted like 5 mins on one problem (I KNOW, that was stupid). MAKE SURE YOU MOVE FAST. This time, if I couldnt solve a problem in like 30 secs, I marked it and moved on. This ensures that you get to all the easy problems, without wasting time.
RC- This is the reason I did the retake. First DAT, I was pianoed. This DAT, I had passages on epidimeology, spinal cord, and floating bridges. I read the all of the passages and then answered the questions. For practice, I read online news articles and did some Topscore and acheiver exams again. Again, time is crucial, read fast and move quickly.
BIO- This time I mainly used the same books as last time. Including Kaplan BB, Cliffs and Destroyer. Like everyone has already mentioned. The Cliffs is probably the best book for this section. If you know it and study it hard, you will do fine. Did have ecology and animal taxonomy questions, but none to specific. Cliffs, Kaplan and Destroyer should do the trick here. Little more difficult than last time (shows by my score). Maybe bc I only used Cliffs and didnt go through it enough.
GChem- This time I only used Kaplan BB, kaplan white book, Barrons, and Destoyer. Kaplan is a great book for an overall content review. Destroyer has almost all the possible diff calcs you can have on the DAT. Know all of Destroyer GChem. Actually, I do believe some questions were VERY similar to destroyer on real DAT. Also did achiever and Topscore, and learned the questions on there too.
OChem- DESTROYER, DESTROYER. The best source for this section. It has almost all the reactions and the road maps are great. Contains almost all the reactions you ever need to know. Only thing it lacks is some nomenclature and lab techniques. For that, I used Kaplan BB. Kaplan is great for nomenclature and good for lab techniques. I probably missed one question, and I know it was a NMR one.
I AM SELLING THE MATERIALS I USED FOR DAT, CHECK IT OUT AT http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=655448
Overall, Im happy that I retook it even though my BIO dropped. I wanted to increase my RC. My new RC isnt great, but Im sure schools will like the fact that I improved on all of my weak areas by putting more time into them. NO MORE RETAKES, SO HAPPY!!!🙂 Now, what do you guys think are my chancest. I have 400+ volunteering/shadowing. I dont know which GPA to give the one with +/- or without +/-. Which is more important and which do schools look at? My with +/- Overall is 3.58 and sGPA is 3.53. My without +/- overall is 3.55 and sGPA is 3.44.
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